I won't try to bore you with all of the minute details of my life up until now, but, I do want to give you the proper background to understand HOW I got where I am!
I was born and raised in small town Iowa, with my Mom, Dad, older Brother, and our family dog. It's a wonderful and safe community where everyone knows everyone and everyTHING. (If you don't, you KNOW where to get the info you're looking for!)
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| Matt-My Brother, Mary-His Wife, Dave-My Dad, Joleen-My Mom, Me, Jon, Liam & Jackson-Nephews |
I went to a high school of 400-500 people. My graduating class had around 100 people, give or take a few! My friends and I were involved in multiple extra-curricular activities, spent Friday nights at numerous sporting events cheering on our classmates, eating pizza at the town square, and driving around town all night long. I'm fortunate enough to have friends that I can STILL count on, even after graduating high school and college.
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| J-High Dance (Boys, I don't want to catch you drooling over the hotties above!) |
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| The gang reunites during Thanksgiving break |
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| Girls Night Out |
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| Ugly Sweater Night (Okay, it got warm so we had to change!) |
Below is my oldest nephew, Liam, who was born my senior year of high school. Although I'm the "adult," he's more like my little brother since I never had one!
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| 17R after earning a bid to the National Tournament |
I spent a majority of my adolescence with the girls and coaches above traveling the country to play our favorite sport. We made numerous memories, qualified for Nationals multiple years in a row, and had a TON of success.
After High School, I had too many ideas and didn't know where to go! Do I play volleyball? Big school, small school, or cosmetology school? In state or out of state? What will I major in? I knew I LOVED to play volleyball, but I was unfortunately under the impression that I needed either a scholarship or be asked to walk on to a DI or DII school. (I'll discuss more about this in a future post) In July after I graduated high school, I had no scholarship offers, and one offer to walk-on to a school 8 hours from home. With the facts facing me, I decided to hang up my shoes and focus on my studies. This is where it gets lengthy, so I'll give you my 4.5 years of college life in fast forward:
1. Semester: Fall 2006
School: University of Northern Iowa
Major: Elementary/Special Education
Volleyball: NO :(
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| My new lifelong friend from college-Amanda, best friend from high school-Brooke, and Me |
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| I spent a LOT of time cheering on former teammate, Jules, as she dominated at Mizzou (Watching her was half of the reason I decided to play again...keep reading) |
2. Semester: Spring 2007
School: Kirkwood Community College
Major: General Education
Volleyball: Back with the Rockets as an Assistant Coach to the Coach who trained me
(Pretty sure I spent most of this year LEARNING from the best!)
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| Iowa Rockets 15R |
3. Semesters: Fall 2007-Fall 2008
School: Des Moines Area Community College
Major/Degree: AA in Liberal Arts
Volleyball: Played for 2 seasons, qualified for Nationals twice
Coached for a small high school club in Woodward, IA
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| 2007 at our first tournament of the year |
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| Friends/Teammates |
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| Roomies from Apt. 9 |
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| 2008 team at Nationals |
4. Semester: Spring 2009
School: Iowa State University
Major: Dietetics
Volleyball: Coached for Johnston Volleyball Club
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| Enter: Kasey! I was at a new school where friend circles had already been made, so I decided to adopt Kasey to keep me company. |
Soon after Kasey joined the family, my youngest nephew, Jackson, was born! It's been so fun to have him around and see his quite spunky personality develop :)
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| My handsome little buddy came to visit and show off in his tux before I walked down the aisle |
5. Semesters: Fall 2009-Fall 2010
School: Simpson College
Major/Degree: BA in Sociology:Social Work
Volleyball: Played for two seasons, went to Nationals once
Coached for JVBC with my Simpson teammate, took our team Nationals
**Started dating and got engaged to my husband!
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| 2009 team on Seattle trip |
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| First day out for the 2010 squad |
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| Celebrating Halloween with my now hubby and teammate |
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| JVBC 2010 team at Nationals |
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| Enjoying a Peruvian specialty |
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| We're engaged! |
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| Engagement Session May 2011 |
Okay, did ya catch all that? The past year of my life has been spent wedding planning, losing weight, changing my lifestyle, and trying to find a job.
Here is a list of the jobs I've held:
1. Sales Associate at Banana Republic
2. Nanny
3. Remedial Therapist
4. Club Volleyball Coach
5. Teacher's Aide
6. Freshman Volleyball Coach
7. Infant-Toddler Development Specialist (ITDS)
I loved something about EACH of these jobs. I thought #7 was the winner as it was in my field of study, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it was located where my husband was working. By now, you've figured out that everything changes rapidly in my life, and now was no time to stop the trend. Two weeks after I had started my job as an ITDS, my husband found out he was being relocated to California. This was quite a shock for both of us and all of our families. Not only were we about to get married in less than two months, we had to plan to move across the country only 2 days after we got married! Talk about CRAZY!!! Thankfully we have amazing family and friends who helped us pull all of it off.
This brings us almost up to date...
Jon and I tied the knot on New Year's Eve 2011...
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| Jon and I chose not to see each other before the ceremony. Needless to say, the 4 small children were DONE taking pictures by the time we got to this point! |
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| My new family: Matt-Jon's Brother-In-Law, Anna-Jon's Oldest Sister, Jon, Me, Donna-Jon's Mom, Greg-Jon's Dad, Abby-Jon's Middle Sister, Ryan-Abby's Boyfriend, Sarah-Jon's Youngest Sister, Justin-Sarah's Boyfriend |
With a bittersweet taste, we left for sunny California 2 days later and landed in our new apartment in Davis, CA.
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| 500 Square Feet...filled with pure love :) |
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| We slept on the floor for the first week...and ate only finger foods! |
I was blessed to get a job within a week as an Administrative Assistant. I've never had a 8-5, full-time job, so this has been quite the learning experience for me. I definitely miss the flexibility of having a different schedule each week, but at the same time this job allows me to see my husband every day (except when he travels back to Iowa for work), allows me to figure out what my next career move is, and gives us a chance to get on our feet financially. NOW, you're up to speed. Thanks for stopping by...I'm excited to have this blog as an outlet for everything that goes on as we venture through this life together!
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